Support For Additional Security Measures to Protect Children

Unisys Research Shows
New Zealanders Support Additional Security Measures to
Protect Children from
Abuse

More than half support
automatic checking of photographs and fingerprints of
teachers and childcare workers against sex offender lists

New research from Unisys has found
broad support across New Zealand for enhanced
biometric-based security measures to approve applicants for
positions working with children. However, the level of
support for specific measures varies depending on the type
of biometric used and what sort of police watch list it is
matched against.

The national survey was designed to
gauge the attitude of New Zealanders toward the automatic
checking of fingerprints and photographs of teachers and
child care workers against police watch lists.

• 93
percent of New Zealanders surveyed said they support
photographs of teachers and childcare workers being
automatically compared to a police watch list of convicted
sex offenders• • A somewhat smaller majority, 80
percent, said they support fingerprints of those working
with children being checked against the same list of sex
offenders.• • “While the majority of New
Zealanders support increased security measures to protect
children, it’s clear that support is strongest for checks
that used photographs instead of fingerprints,” said John
Kendall, Security Program Director, Unisys Asia
Pacific.

“When it comes to automatically checking
photographs and fingerprints of teachers and child care
workers against law enforcement lists of known sex
offenders, the clear majority of New Zealanders are in
favour,” he said.

But the level of support fell when
New Zealanders were asked if they supported screening
teachers and childcare worker job applicants against broader
lists of convicted criminals.

• 82 percent said they
supported checking photographs of teachers and childcare
workers against police lists of convicted
criminals.• • 69 percent of New Zealanders said
that they supported checking fingerprints against law
enforcement lists of convicted
criminals.• • “Initiatives that checked
these workers against a specific list of known sex offenders
received higher support than those checking against a
broader list of convicted criminals,” Mr Kendall
said.

The highest level of opposition, reported by 29
percent of New Zealanders surveyed, was against fingerprints
checked against a list of all convicted
criminals.

“The survey results demonstrate that
overall New Zealanders do support additional security
screening initiatives to enhance protection of children. Yet
the level of support varies slightly depending on the type
of biometric identifier used and how broad a police watch
list it is matched against,” said Mr
Kendall.

“These findings are an important tool for
government, law enforcement authorities as well as those
entrusted with the care of children, to plan future
enhancements to security screening,” said Mr
Kendall.

Proposed security measureIn
favourAgainstA photograph from each teacher
and childcare worker be automatically compared to a police
watch list of convicted sex offenders 93% 6%A photograph
from each teacher and childcare worker be automatically
compared to a police watch list of all convicted
criminals 82% 17%A fingerprint from each teacher and
childcare worker be automatically compared to a police watch
list of convicted sex offenders 80% 18%A fingerprint
from each teacher and childcare worker be automatically
compared to a police watch list of all convicted
criminals 69% 29%

About the Research

The
survey was conducted in New Zealand by market research firm
Consumer Link, 4-10 September 2012 using a nationally
representative sample of 501 respondents aged 18 years and
over. All results have been post-weighted to Statistics New
Zealand census data.

About Unisys

Unisys is
a worldwide information technology company. We provide a
portfolio of IT services, software, and technology that
solves critical problems for clients. We specialise in
helping clients secure their operations, increase the
efficiency and utilisation of their data centres, enhance
support to their end users and constituents, and modernise
their enterprise applications. To provide these services and
solutions, we bring together offerings and capabilities in
outsourcing services, systems integration and consulting
services, infrastructure services, maintenance services, and
high-end server technology. With approximately 22,500
employees, Unisys serves commercial organisations and
government agencies throughout the world. For more
information, visit www.unisys.com.

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